Who Is At Your Back?

Who is at your back??
“Don’t be afraid, I am…” Shri Swami Samarth.
( भिऊ नकोस; मी तुझ्या पाठीशी आहे..!- स्वामी समर्थ.)

Do you remember your childhood experiences?

In my childhood; I used to be very fearfull while going to the other room, courtyard or toilet at night. When I used to insist my mother to accompany me, she would answer, – “Don’t be afraid …I am here.” ( भिऊ नकोस; मी इथेच आहे./डरो नहीं; मै यही हूॅ।). These very words would give me much courage to be fearless for few minutes.

In our life; we go through many phases when nothing goes well. During such downphase, when we are helpless, usually our loved ones help us with words of assurance _” Don’t worry, we are here for you.”
May the situations improve or not, our moral strength  increses with such caring words, isnt it?

Thus whenever we are in confusion, dilemma, frustration, sadness, insecured feeling, doubts, we need someone who would help us to come out of the negativity with their kind, compassionate and encouraging words.

When I was a kid, I used to pray to the God for many things; for which my parents would say ” no”. ( which were beyond their capacity.)
What  appeals to me about the  God is, – He says neither ‘yes’; nor  “no.” to our any demand. He just remains silent.
I used to feel hopeful in His silence with a firm belief that – He will make the things happen some or other day.”
It is when I learned the scriptures, I came to know that my assumptions were true. Yes….He fulfills our each and  every desire at the proper time.

If you sow the differnt types of seeds ( flowers, fruits, vegetables), all the seedlings don’t arise at one and the same time. The fruits or flowers of different plants take different time spans to florish or fructify.

In the same way, what we sow ( desire-thought-action), will fructify for sure but at the proper time only.
We hear one most common saying-  “Bhagwan ke ghar der hai …andher nahi.”
This delay is the time period between sowing the seed(desire) and ripening its fruit( conducive environment). What we need is the faith in the God/ Divine and the patience.

Thus God assures everything in silence. He just makes the things happen at particular time with his maya power.

How would you feel if the God Himself utters the words of assurance- “Don’t worry…don’t get afraid…I am here with you always?”
You will never believe….because you know Him as Invisible. Yes, you make the idols to worship Him in physical form. But you know that He will not speak with you in the gross language.

Do you want to know about the Living God? The God who speaks like us?

Shri Swami Samarth was the avatar/incarnation of God in the human form.  He was the living God. He used to  assure every bhakta with His kind words- ” Bhivu nakos, mi tuzya pathishi ahe/ Don’t be afraid, I am at your back.”

Whenever any difficult situation arises, I just remember Shri Swami Samarth and His compassionate and caring words ” Bhivu nakos, mi tuzya pathishi ahe.” drives away all the fears.

These words have tremendous power to make everyone face any adverse conditions fearlessly.
These words have two meanings. One is the gross and other one is subtle.

The subtle meaning is – I am the Substratum of all. ( Sat Chit Anandam/ Parabrahma.)
“Mi tuzya pathishi ahe/ I am at your back.” 

Being right at the back or behind means continuously giving  the support. As per vedanta, there is the only one support, and that is called the Substratum.  The Nondual Parabrahma  is the substratum upon which whole the drama of samsara is going on.

It’s like the screen, which supports the running movie.  Each and every event whether happy or sad, each and every thing and being in the movie has support of the screen, without which movie cannot run.

Thus the subtle meaning of the sentence is – ‘ I am the substratum of all. I am at the back/ behind all. “.

Such statement can be uttered only by the one who has realised the Self/ Brahman. ( Brahmavid brahmaiv bhavati). Thus Only God and Guru( adhigattatva/ Realised) can state firmly like this.

Shri Swami Samarth was the incarnation of Lord ( Dattatreya)- Nirguna Nirakar Brahman in Saguna Sakar roop/ form. In this context, He is the ultimate supporter/ substratum of the entire world/ jagat.( pathishi ahe/ at the back)

Other meaning is the gross, and explains the beautiful relationship between God and devotees or Guru and Shishyas. There is the sense of duality in Bhakti/ devotion at the initial stages; where bhaktas/ devotees seek the love/grace/ kripa from the God/ Guru to keep the adversities and obstacles away from their life. They need someone to encourage them in the fearfull situations.

Shri Swami Samarth would assure His bhaktas with his compassionate words_” Bhivu nakos( don’t be afraid), Mi tuzya pathishi ahe( I am at your back.  “

Just look at the toddler( arround 1yrs old kid) and his mother. Toddler is running here and there and  his mother is continuously behind him to support. When he is about to fall; she supports him, if he falls, she lifts him. Swami Samarth used to be at the back of his bhaktas continuously like the mother. That’s why they would call Him ” Maauli/ mother”.

Whenever we are sad and feel like crying, we take support of the shoulders of our loved ones to lean on. Imagine the condition when your reliable support is taken off, you feel helpless.
The people we love in our life act as our external support. This support changes with the time and varies according to the situations.

Swami Samarth was the unchanging support to all. He used to direct , guide the people in the right path. He would say that He helps only those who help themselves.  That means, one should exert- do the purusharth ( as per our scriptures) with honest efforts without sitting idle.
He would say; ” If you follow my instructions and work honestly, you need not be afraid of anything..I will take care of you.” 
This does’t mean that one will never get any obstacles or adverse conditions in your life.

You must be knowing that the results or fruits of any actions cannot be avoided. The obstacles and difficulties; if destined to happen in your life; will happen for sure. Because these are the results of your past actions. These events will happen any how.

Then what is the role of the grace of God/ Guru? 
The role of grace is to reduce or nullify the intensity of suffering. The grace makes one strong enough to  face any dire situation without suffering. This can be better understood by one analogy-

Suppose two persons are destined to get adverse situations in their life because of their past karmas.
During this life, one prays to Guru and God with surrender but other one has no faith. When that particular adverse situation comes, the one without faith suffers a lot. The unbearable pain and agony makes his mind unstable and he losses the peace. But the one with grace faces the condition with courageous mind. He feel not much pain. He remains stable and peacefull.

There is a nice quote_ “Prayer doesn’t reduce the burden but gives  enough strength to bear that burden.” ( you pray with surrender and He will shower you with his grace.)

In lighter way, the benefit of the Lords grace is – “Joroka zataka dhirese lage.” ( with grace, you feel less intensed shock than expected.”

How do we get this grace?

The only way to get this grace is to complete surrender at the feet of God/ Guru. Beacaue one gets the grace in proportion to the degree of ones surrender to the God.
Arjuna got the divine vision to see the virat roop of the Lord,  because of his complete surrender to the God.
Draupadi was saved by the Lord from untoward event because of her complete surrender to Him.

At the end of His avatar, Swami samarth chanted the shlok from Bhagvad gita, to address the people who were mourning.

अनन्याश्चिन्तयन्तो मां ये जनाः पर्युपासते । तेषां नित्याभियुक्तानां योगक्षेमं वहाम्यहम्‌ ॥
(But those who worship Me with devotion, meditating on My transcendental form–to them I carry what they lack and preserve what they have.)

Meaning of this verse is the same as that of Swami’s words, rather it is in more simplified form- ” Bhivu nakos….” If one surrenders to me complately, he need not be afraid of anything because I am at your back to take care.”

And another grace to the one with desire of liberation is to  get selected for the Godhood/ Self-Realisation by the the divine.
Mundakopanishad verse-

यम् एव एषः वृणुते। तेन लभ्यः तस्य एषः आत्मा स्वां तनुं विवृणुते ॥

(Only he, whom the Lord chooses attains Self Realisation. He reveals Himself to such a chosen person. ( This chosen person is the one who got the grace of Lord.)

There were so many desciples of Swami, who were totally surrenderd to Him and got mukti/ liberation.

Although Swami Samarth was in human form for certain period of time, He is still showering the grace over us. Only requirement is to call Him earnestly.  He is the Parabrahman Himself. At the time of samadhi, He assured the people saying;
” Keep in your minds, that ” Ham gaya nahi….jinda hai…हम गया नही, जिंदा है।”
He is our enlivening principle ( Nirguna Nirakaar Brahman) but if you call with full faith, He comes subtly to intuit you with His  favourite assuring words for help- ” Don’t be afraid….I am at your back…..भिऊ नकोस: मी तुझ्या पाठीशी आहे। ( For the modern young generation, its like – “फिक्र नाॅट , मै हू ना !”

        Jai Jai Swami Samarth!
         Hari Om !